A Glimmer of Hope
The Iranian theocratic regime can, without hesitation, be described as criminal. For years it has provided financial and material support to terrorist organisations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, while brutally persecuting its own opposition – murdering, torturing, and raping.
The attack on Iran is illegal under American law. Yet previous U.S. presidents have hardly troubled themselves with the legality of striking another country, and it is even less likely that Trump would. The attack is illegal under international law as well. And with the current composition of the UN Security Council and the veto power of a privileged few, it is practically impossible for such an operation to ever receive an international mandate – even though the Iranian regime, which in recent weeks has not hesitated to kill thousands of its own citizens, would undoubtedly continue its violence.
We Czechs know well Jan Drda’s book Higher Principle and the later film adaptation. The story takes place at a grammar school during the wave of terror following the assassination of Acting Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich in Nazi‑occupied Prague. Three students are arrested and executed for alleged anti‑German activities. The Latin teacher – an old, kind, somewhat impractical man – is expected to condemn their actions in front of the class. Instead, he utters the famous line: “From the standpoint of a higher moral principle, the killing of a tyrant is not a crime.”
That is one part of what I feel.
The Arrival of Doubt
At the same time, I am deeply worried about the disintegration of the international legal order and the growing dominance of the law of the stronger. If the removal of Maduro in Venezuela or the ayatollahs in Iran leads to democratisation, good. But history shows that such interventions often bring chaos, civil wars, and further suffering. And who can guarantee that next time the target won’t be a country with a democratically elected government that simply displeases a more powerful actor?
The emotions stirred by the attack on Iran collide within me like two waves crashing against each other.